White House to issue order on LGBT federal contractors

President Barack Obama will on Monday sign an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a senior administration official said Friday.

The action, which amends two existing executive orders, will also formally prohibit discrimination against federal workers on the basis of gender identity.

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With Congress unable thus far to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act – which would apply to most employers nationwide – LGBT activists had for years been calling on the president to take action where he could, and to sign an executive order opposing discrimination at the 24,000 companies that have government contracts. They employ 28 million workers, a fifth of the nation’s workers.

But Obama’s planned action does not include a wide-ranging exemption for religious employers — something that some religious leaders had requested.

Not having a law in place that protects LGBT workers “is both contrary to our values as Americans and, importantly, bad for business,” the senior administration official said on a conference call with reporters announcing the president’s intention to take action on Monday.

In June, ahead of a speech at the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Gala in New York, the White House signaled Obama’s intention to sign an order on federal contractors, saying then that the president had asked his aides to finalize it.

Thirty-two states don’t have laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and, Obama said at a White House event marking Pride Month in June, “millions of Americans go to work worried that they could lose their job — not because of anything they’ve done … but because of who they are. It’s upsetting. It is wrong.”

Obama will on Monday amend two existing executive orders — 11246, signed by Lyndon Johnson, which requires federal contractors not to discrimination on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and 11478, signed by Richard Nixon, which extends similar protections to federal employees.

Though he is amending Johnson’s order on federal contractors, Obama will keep in place a 2002 amendment by George W. Bush, which allows religiously affiliated contractors to favor people of their same religion for religious roles, such as positions in the clergy.

“You can use religion to only hire people who share your religion, but you can’t discriminate against someone who is of your faith who happens to be LGBT, unless they fall within the ministerial exception,” the senior administration official said.

A group of 14 prominent religious leaders — one of whom later rescinded her signature — wrote to Obama this month asking him to go further and to exempt religious employers from having to abide by the non-discrimination order.

“An executive order that does not include a religious exemption will significantly and substantively hamper the work of some religious organizations that are best equipped to serve in common purpose with the federal government,” they wrote to Obama on July. “When the capacity of religious organizations is limited, the common good suffers.” The letter was signed by Joel Hunter, one of the president’s closest spiritual advisers, as well as two advisers to Obama’s 2012 campaign, among others.

Faith leaders aren’t united in their views, though. A group of more than 100 wrote to Obama on July 8 asking him not to include a religious exemption because “we believe that public dollars should not be used to sanction discrimination.”

The senior administration official said that Obama had listened input coming from LGBT groups, religious organizations and others, and “took that input to heart.”

“We believe that this order both protects the LGBT workers and respects the interests of religious entities that serve as federal contractors,” the official added.

The provision for federal employees takes effect immediately, while the federal contractor measures require regulations within the next 90 days from the Department of Labor, the official said. The White House expects it to be fully effective by early 2015.

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said that with his actions on Monday, Obama “will have a very real and immediate impact on the lives of millions of LGBT people across the country.”

Obama is sending “a powerful message to future administrations and to Congress that anti-LGBT discrimination must not be tolerated,” Griffin added, repeating his group’s call for Congress to pass ENDA.